Youth unemployment – The growing rate of crypto adoption by the Nigerian youths is something to be delighted for in various fronts.
Significantly the current unemployment rate in Nigeria has a proportional effect on the youth since they form the bulk of unemployed population.
However, according a recent data 15-24-year old sample stood at 53.4%, while 25-34-year olds form 37.2% of the population.
Drawing from Nigeria and Africa at large, unemployed individuals are people younger than 35 years old.
It’s no longer a news that the increasing unemployment rate has pushed more young Nigerians into the crypto industry.
Opportunities for young people is increasing in the crypto industry following the introduction of more money in the market by investors.
Nigeria has one of the youngest population in the world with about 75% of its population under 35 years according a report by the Co-founder & COO, Paxful, Artur Schaback.
In a bid to further drive crypto investment, Paxful opened the paxNaija educational centre in Abuja aimed to educate, train and inform Nigerians on the adoption of Bitcoin and other crypto assets.
There’s also this program found and funded by the crypto giant called Qala Fellowship, strictly to find and grow local Nigerian talent, starting with the developers who want to build a career in crypto.
The business development manager at FTX Africa, Adebayo Juwon, described how the cryptocurrency exchange is giving young Nigerians a chance to find careers in the crypto sector.
In his statement, “FTX in Africa provides educational platforms to help people understand crypto and blockchain, which overtime opens them up to numerous job opportunities in the industry.
“Students from Nigerian Universities are working with FTX in Africa on crypto education. Among the events hosted are crypto tours and campus events across its major cities.
“Over 10,000 Nigerian students and crypto enthusiasts have benefitted from campus events and crypto tours sponsored by FTX.”
For young people in Nigeria, the crypto currency market has become a haven since there are no employment opportunities, to further mitigate against youth unemployment.
What makes it even interesting is that the skill sets required for the jobs are easily acquired, and the jobs are remote-friendly, with flexible working time, transparent and not rigorous.
Blockchain technology has the capacity to reduce barriers to inclusion, contributing approximately $29 billion to country’s gross domestic product over the next decade, according to a report from Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, a financial sector development NGO that promotes financial inclusion in Nigeria.
The use of cryptocurrency has enabled the unemployed in Sub-saharan economy to sell merchandise as well as boycott conventional e-commerce systems, which often require a user account with a conventional bank, and thus several fees.
However, a collaborative effort needs to be harnessed to maximize the potential and of crypto and blockchain technology in Nigeria.
Both regulators and financial service providers, development institutions and donors need to come together.
Working on risk balanced implementation of emerging technology in Nigeria, the stakeholders need to collaborate and stretch out a productive communication line.
Where a policy adjustment will ease the path for young Nigerians digital enterprises to grow, attract more foreign direct investments, where young people will take advantage of appropriate educational and employment opportunities to get out of youth unemployment.
